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Here at Spring Creek, our writing partnerships are off to a great start! Each classroom is partnered with another grade level classroom to provide an authentic audience for young writers. The students in Mrs. Bradham's first grade class had so much sharing their stories with the students in Ms. Knowles' and Mr. Capp's class. Mrs. Reese's second graders had a blast sharing their personal narratives with Mrs. Bradham's and Mrs. Moore's first grade classes as well.

We even have scientific writers working on writing pieces! Mrs. Mann's fourth grade classes enjoyed a day of recording their observations in their science notebooks during lab. They even expanded on the concepts they learned by writing personal narratives with amazing story hooks and scientific language. Writing is fun in all our subjects!

Writers have been busy at work this year at Spring Creek Elementary! All over campus, students are generating writing around topics that matter to them. It's exciting to see writers choosing topics they care about and developing those topics to share with others! Here at Spring Creek, our writers are making books and keeping notebooks in other content areas as well. Scientific writers are keeping notebooks to hold observations and scientific evidence. These writers have things to say and stories to tell. We can't wait to see these young writers grow throughout the year!

The fourth grade scientists in Mrs. Mann's classes wrote picture books to share all they know about science vocabulary words that they have been studying. The students chose their own science topics to feature in their books. Each student designed, drafted, and revised/edited their picture book. After publishing their stories, they read them to a younger audience. Writing is fun in Science!

The unexpected, yet welcomed snowfall, set the perfect mood for celebrating poetry and drinking hot chocolate. Mrs. Dungan's fourth grade writers wrote and read poetry throughout the chilly day. These incredible poets shared a variety of poetry pieces! You can find all of the hot chocolate poetry offerings HERE on Mrs. Dungan's class website.

The fourth grade students at Spring Creek Elementary went on a Writing Retreat to a local park. It was a great experience for these writers and the result was lots of writing! Students sketched, made lists, wrote poems, and started stories in their notebooks. Each writer used unique strategies to generate writing in their notebook. Writers began to jot down things they noticed, observed, or wondered about. What a great way to gather writing ideas!

Spring Creek fourth graders spent the morning participating in an outdoor learning retreat! Students rotated through various learning rotations and had some time to write in their notebooks as well. It was amazing to see all the writing being generated. What a great opportunity for these writers to collect on their thoughts and observations while being inspired by nature.

Our fourth grade students recently took a walk to the nearby park for Spring Creek's first ever Writing Retreat. Each student chose a spot to observe nature and to write whatever came to mind. Some students sat under a cluster of trees in the shade or beside the lake. Other students chose to sit at the top of a hill where they could feel the breeze.

Writers began by listing observations in nature. From this list, each writer wrote either poems or stories inspired by their observations. One student observed a spider web in the grass. He wondered where the spider was and if any food had been caught. This led him to write a poem about the web. Another student noted that yaupon tree berries looked like little tomatoes, and from that a poem was born.

Each child had the opportunity to share their writing with their classmates. Everyone enjoyed working outside and are looking forward to the next writers' retreat.